Jokowi’s second year: maintaining growth momentum

The Jakarta Post – Jakarta. In the first two years of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s administration, Indonesia has managed to maintain economic growth thanks to its prudent fiscal policy, a presidential staff official has said.

Denni Puspa Purbasari, a Presidential Office chief deputy, said amid the global slowdown and uncertainty that plagued the world’s growth, Indonesia’s economy was still growing and became one of the highest in Asia.

As of the first half of 2016, the gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 5.04 percent, after a 4.79 percent growth at the end of 2015. This figure was far above the average global economic growth of 2.5 percent.

“Our next task is to maintain the momentum of economic growth to sustain in following years,” Denni said recently.

With the strong growth, the government is striving to control the stability of food prices this year by reforming the food subsidy distribution. The non-cash food subsidy program will be implemented next year in 44 cities and is slated to become a nationwide program by 2019.

“The non-cash subsidy will add up the purchasing power of the needy by Rp 100,000 each. We will also stimulate the private sector to tap food supply to 44 cities and 1.4 million households next year,” she said.

In addition, the government will ensure that the fiscal policy focuses on productive programs, and continue the deregulation policy to improve the investment climate and ease of doing business in the country. (ags)